An official Beta version of Windows 8 calling the Windows 8 Consumer Preview is now available for download . However, before you download it...

An official Beta version of Windows 8 calling the Windows 8 Consumer Preview is now available for download. However, before you download it, you might be wondering if your PC or tablet can handle the program. According to Microsoft, the public beta version is very close to the Official Windows 8 final version which will be online later this year. However, we do not recommend it to uninstall any previous Windows version and then replace that it the latest build because no matter how close it is to final release, yet it is in beta phrase and there may be (or should be) some major bugs. So try it on virtual machine or by dual booting for safety. However, a post on the official Microsoft Windows Experience blog tells the latest changes and improvements of Windows 8 as well as minimum hardware requirements for running Windows 8. According to them, any PC capable of running Windows Vista or 7 will not have problems in accommodating Windows 8.

Here’s the minimum system requirements:

1 GHz or higher

1 GB of RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

16 GB of free space on your hard disk (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

Support for DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0 driver or higher

Minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768

For those who want to use use two monitors simultaneously need a PC capable of providing resolutions above 1366x768. At the same time, to optimize the experience of touch input, your device have to be capable of recognizing multiple touches. Finally, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview was made for x86/x64 Desktop and tablet PCs. While the final version of the operating system will run on ARM Chips, the current Beta can not be operated on such platforms.